End of cycle? Pep Guardiola's ultimatum to the Manchester City board

Published:22/05/2025 - 02:39h

Updated:22/05/2025 - 02:39h

Pep Guardiola surprised by threatening City with leaving at the end of 24/25. What is the reason for the Catalan coach's ultimatum?

Manchester City's victory against Bournemouth (2-0), beyond calming the waters in the 'sky blue' team by directing the classification to the next Champions League, set off all the alarms at the Etihad Stadium. In the post-match press conference, Pep Guardiola, for the first time in what has undoubtedly been his worst season in England, threatened to leave this summer.

The Catalan coach expressed his anger at the making of the 'cityzen' squad, which he considers too large despite the multiple injury losses suffered throughout the campaign. For Pep, having to leave five or six players out of the squad each day is unsustainable for the future.

"I don't want that. I'll leave. If they make a shorter squad, I'll stay", said the Santpedor native. At the moment, the Mancunian team has 28 players registered in the first team squad. Of these, at least six or seven players should leave so that the coach can optimally manage the team and the reserve team players.

City could do without several of their latest reinforcements

In the last winter market, City spent more than 200 million euros on the signings of Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis. None of the five reinforcements was a stellar reinforcement for the team, with the case of Reis (37 'kilos') being the most striking.

The 19-year-old centre-back barely played a couple of FA Cup matches in his first semester in England. Continuing with the defenders, Khusanov (40 M€) was not too fortunate either in the 6 Premier League matches played so far.

In attack, the performance of Omar Marmoush (75 M€) was not convincing either, with the Egyptian being the main target after the defeat in the FA Cup final for missing a penalty in the first half. Of the summer incorporations, Savinho (25 M€) was the one who accumulated the most filming, but his 2 goals and 12 assists were below the expected level.

Hence, in addition to the confirmed departure of Kevin De Bruyne, City could suffer around a dozen casualties, waiting for at least two or three 'top' incorporations in the summer that will help the club recover its lost prestige.